There were times when Baron Davis was as good a playmaker, as entertaining a point guard in the NBA — remember how he played when he led Golden State to the first-round upset of the Dallas Mavericks in 2007? He had the gift of court vision, and even in his frustrating later years on the nights he showed up physically and mentally right he could be magical. I’ve seen few players be able to light up a crowd like he could on the right night.

We may never see those days again.

The Knicks have announced that Baron Davis’ knee injury is much worse than we thought. And anyone who saw the video thought it was bad. Here is the announcement from the New York Knicks:

Davis will have surgery later this week but would be age 34 when trying to make a comeback from this. A guy who has struggled to come back from injuries in recent years such as the herniated disc in his back that has limited him these playoffs.

Davis, when he was going right, was always one of my favorite players to watch. Too often, due to conditioning and more, we only caught glimpses of what he was capable of — in transition he could dazzle. Too many days he settled for threes (early in the clock), but when he attacked he could score or dish with the best, his feel for the game was incredible.

With Baron Davis out, “Jeremy Lin Watch 2012” is on in full force for the Knicks as they head into Game 5 in Miami Wednesday.

Lin has been working out, but when coach Mike Woodson spoke with reporters Monday it didn’t sound like Lin would play, but since his other option is Bibby Woodson was looking for a workaround. Here are the tweets out of that conference call from Howard Beck at the New York Times.

Woodson: “I’m not counting on Jeremy Lin to play.”

Summing up Woodson conf call: Bibby will start. Douglas might play. Jeremy Lin sounding very unlikely. Could use a lot of Melo/JR at point

Carmelo Anthony at the point… Woodson was on the bench when Mike D’Antoni tried that, right? Then again, Anthony might try hard for Woodson.

Woodson doesn’t have a lot of options so Smith and ‘Melo controlling the flow of play are really his only good options.

If the Knicks had been healthy this series — Iman Shumpert, Amare Stoudemire, Jeremy Lin and now Baron Davis — the games would have been a lot more competitive. The series outcome would not have changed, but it would have been more interesting.

When Baron Davis went down it looked bad. The video of the injury is at the bottom of this post but don’t watch it if you are squeamish.

Davis suffered a dislocated kneecap. He’s done for these playoffs and frankly this could be the sad end to his career (he will be 33 next season and his production was already in decline due to age and other injuries).

Davis’s kneecap leaves the Knicks in a tighter bind — and their bind was already plenty tight being down 3-1 to the Miami Heat. Davis was the starting point guard and without him the Knicks lean on Mike Bibby. The guy the Heat let walk at the end of the last season for nothing.

“He’ll get back into the gym (Monday) talk to the doctors about where he is physically,” (Knicks coach Mike) Woodson said. “We’ll make some decisions before we get on the plane and head to Miami.”

They have a few days, and smart money says Lin is on the plane to Miami with the team. But whether or not he can play remains to be seen.

Lin or no Lin isn’t going to swing the series to the Knicks. But he gives New York a fighting chance that Bibby and Toney Douglas — the other two point guards on the roster — do not. New York needs Lin back. We’ll see if they get him.

It doesn’t change the big picture – the Heat are still going to win this series and there are still questions about the construction and future of the Knicks.

But for a day the Knicks got a measure of redemption — the Knicks made the big plays late, Carmelo Anthony outplayed LeBron James, the Knicks got the win and ended their 13-game playoff losing streak. New York got the 89-87 win and now the Heat lead 3-1 heading back to Miami for Game 5 on Wednesday.

It felt like a different Knicks team from the start, with Amare Stoudemire returning to the lineup. But more than that, the Knicks came out with a little fire and a sense of desperation — Stoudemire has 6 points and 4 rebounds in the first quarter, Anthony had 8 points. All game long the Knicks did a good job of having Stoudemire rolling after setting a pick for Melo, or Melo driving and kicking. There was ball movement in the offense.

But the second quarter turned and felt like the rest of the series — the Heat went on a 12-0 run, they suffocated the Knicks with defense and were the team attacking and getting to the line (Miami had 17 second quarter free throws).

But the Knicks would not go quietly into that good night and came back from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter to make it a game late.

Anthony finished with 41 and was attacking — with six minutes to go in the game he got the ball in transition and went right at Wade to get the And 1.

But the real key for the Knicks was that Anthony and Stoudemire played well off each other — that is the one sign of hope going forward. Both men were attacking the rim and creating space for the other. The Knicks ran crazy triple screens that the Heat did not defend consistently all game and for once the Knicks made them pay.

It wasn’t all good news for the Knicks — Baron Davis went down in the third quarter with what was later determined to be a dislocated knee cap. He had to be carried off the court. With the team already missing Jeremy Lin, they don’t need to be down another point guard.

And it still came down to a last shot and a last chance for Dwyane Wade three for the win (Stoudemire did a good job defending him on the switch and when Wade lost the handle for a second he was forced into a desperation shot). Wade finished with 22 points, LeBron had 27.

There will be a Game 5, and the Knicks can win a playoff game. There are still a lot of questions to be asked about this team, but for a day New York gets the win and should savor it.

Here is our daily look around the NBA — links to stories worth reading and notes to check out (stuff that did not get its own post here at PBT) — done in bullet point form. Because bloggers love bullet points.

• Metta World Peace will appear on Conan O’Brien next week. He had been scheduled to appear the night the suspension came down for the elbow to James Harden’s head, but he backed out. This is his make up.